NEC triples number of connections in distributed-MIMO

NEC demonstrated multiple highly stable simultaneous terminal connections and transmission capacity through distributed-MIMO in the 28 GHz millimeter-wave frequency band. 

The company says its demonstration, which was conducted in a real world office environment, achieved approximately 3 times the number of simultaneous connections and transmission

capacity compared to cases without distributed-MIMO in the 28 GHzfrequency band. Moreover, transmission deterioration from obstacles was also reduced.

Earlier this year, Japan began to commercially deploy 5G in the sub 6 frequency band and millimeter-wave frequency band, with the expectation of enhancing network performance to support 10 times more capacity than 4G, as well as higher throughput, lower latency, and multiple connections.

NEC has been a pioneer in digital beamforming technology and has commercialized Massive-MIMO in the sub 6 frequency band. Moreover, NEC has developed digital coordination technology among antenna elements distributed in the millimeter-wave frequency band and conducted verification activities to solve the problems of indoor mobile communications, such as shadowing and diffraction of propagation paths.

https://www.nec.com/en/press/202101/global_20210125_01.html

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Cignal AI: Strong demand for 400ZR pluggables

Global compact modular revenue grew 24 percent in the third quarter of 2020 (3Q20) over the prior year, versus just 7 percent growth for the total optical market, according to the latest Transport Applications Report from market research firm Cignal AI. Cignal AI defines “compact modular” as small form factor optical hardware that is designed for use in open and disaggregated networks.

“Compact modular is gaining popularity with a wider set of network applications and operators due to the continued adoption of disaggregation outside cloud and colocation,” said Scott Wilkinson, lead analyst at Cignal AI. “The market saw extraordinary growth in Asia Pacific over the last two quarters, with sales in the region now approaching those of EMEA.”

Meanwhile, the 400ZR market is getting underway, with several hundred modules shipped for testing and evaluation in 3Q20. “The demand pipeline for 400ZR remains strong and operators are pleased with the prototypes under evaluation,” said Andrew Schmitt, directing analyst at Cignal AI. “Acacia had a huge quarter thanks to a large buildout at Amazon AWS.”

More Key Findings from the 3Q20 Applications Report

• Although Ciena reported a flat quarter overall for optical sales, its compact modular sales were up 18 percent year over year, and the company maintained its market leadership by a wide margin
• Compact modular sales in APAC grew by more than 75 percent in the quarter; Huawei (mostly in China), Fujitsu (in Japan) and Nokia all more than doubled their sales in the region
• Year-over-year sales of packet-OTN equipment grew only in APAC this quarter, and sales in North America declined by more than 25 percent
• Overall compact modular sales growth is forecast to decelerate to low single digits in 4Q20 as capex budgets evaporate, especially in North America
• Pluggable coherent optics are projected to account for 40 percent of the high-performance optical market by 2024
• Shipments of fixed 400 Gbps+ coherent ports jumped 65 percent sequentially, to over 35,000 ports in the quarter

https://cignal.ai/2021/01/compact-modular-grows-faster-than-overall-optical-market-in-3q20/

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Oman Australia Cable ready for installation

 The Oman Australia Cable (OAC), which will span 9,800 km between Muscat and Perth, hit another significant milestone in its construction with SUB.Co confirming that the fiber has now been fully manufactured. Load #1 of 2 is now being loaded onto a freighter to transfer to the main-lay ship for installation beginning in March 2021.

Final splice for the OAC is on target for December 2021. Once completed, OAC will be the only submarine cable directly connecting continental Australia and EMEA, providing the first secure, diverse, express and lowest latency route between the two continents.

OAC is designed with 4 fiber pairs and a total system capacity of 54 Tbps.

Bevan Slattery, founder of SUB.CO said, “2020 has been an extraordinarily challenging year to commit to building a cable of this scale, but I am delighted that we have achieved 100% of cable production and completed the first load system assembly testing within the original product schedule. This could not have been done without the assistance of our fantastic partners: SubCom.”

David Coughlan, CEO of SubCom  noted, "We knew that this was going to be a task when we committed to the program back in February 2020, but we also knew we would be up for the challenge. Despite everything that has been thrown at us, our team has done an exceptional job to keep this project going, on time, on budget and most importantly, safely.”

www.subcom.com

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ZTE's 2020 revenue rose 12% YoY

ZTE reported FY 2020 revenue of RMB 101,379,340 (US$15.6 billion), up 11.73% from RMB 90,736,582 for 2019. Total profit was RMB 5,133,797, down 28.32% from RMB 7,161,670 in 2019.

ZTE said its year-on-year growth was achieved in operating revenue from both domestic and international markets and from its three principal business segments (carriers’ networks, consumer business and government and corporate business). 

In its domestic market, ZTE reported growth in both market pattern and market share as it seized opportunities arising from the development of 5G and new infrastructure; in the international market, the company reported ongoing improvements in profitability "on the back of persistent sound operations and meticulous effort to explore high-value market segments."

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